LAWRENCE: Former mayor is charged with theft (updated)

Mark W. Holmes Sr., the former executive director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority and a former Lawrence Township councilman and mayor, has been charged with theft by deception, according to Actin

By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
   Mark W. Holmes Sr., the former executive director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority and a former Lawrence Township councilman and mayor, has been charged with theft by deception, according to Acting Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni.
   Mr. Holmes, who was arrested at his Drift Avenue home July 11, was charged after an investigation revealed he allegedly stole more than $75,000 by diverting state grant funds, collecting reimbursements for unauthorized meals and double-dipping on per diem payments when traveling while he was the executive director of the Housing Authority, according to the press release.
   The Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office launched the investigation into the finances of the Housing Authority at the board of directors’ request, after a review of the authority’s 2009-10 audit that revealed suspected financial irregularities.
   Mr. Holmes, who resigned as the executive director in 2011, served on Lawrence Township Council from 1998 to 2008. He was mayor in 2004 and 2008. His term on Township Council would have expired in December 2009, but he resigned because of personal and professional commitments.
   Mr. Holmes served as the executive director of the Asbury Park Housing Authority from November 2008 to June 2011. A few months before assuming the job of executive director, he received a $99,897 grant from the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development. The grant was intended to be used to provide training in computers and other marketable skills for the authority’s residents.
   Between Nov. 19, 2008, and Aug. 14, 2009, while Mr. Holmes was the executive director of the authority, the $99,897 grant was drawn down by $75,721.40 and transferred into the authority’s general operating fund. The money was ultimately moved into accounts opened and controlled by Mr. Holmes, the press release said.
   Mr. Holmes also used a debit card and an American Express credit card to make a number of unauthorized purchases for his benefit during a trip to Florida in January and February 2011, totaling $2,869.86, the press release said.
   Mr. Holmes also used the debit card on about 127 occasions for the unauthorized purchase of meals in Asbury Park and Lawrence totaling $16,985.62, the press release said. He also submitted reimbursement vouchers for meals totaling $3,397.28, despite paying for them with the American Express credit card.
   The Asbury Park Housing Authority asked the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office to conduct an investigation after a review of its 2009-10 audit showed some suspected financial irregularities. The alleged irregularities were called to the attention of the housing authority’s board of directors by its auditor. The board and its auditor were obligated to report those issues to the prosecutor’s office.
   The result was the charge of theft by deception lodged against Mr. Holmes last week. If convicted of second degree theft by deception, he faces five to 10 years in a state prison.
   Mr. Holmes accepted the executive director’s job at the Asbury Park Housing Authority after he resigned from his job as the executive director of the East Orange Housing Authority in 2007. He was required to step down from his job at the East Orange Housing Authority as part of a settlement reached with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel for possible violations of the Hatch Act.
   The Hatch Act does not permit a person who is employed by municipal, county or state agencies and who has duties in connection with programs financed in whole or in part by federal loans or grants to seek office in a partisan — Democrat or Republican — election. The possible penalty for violating the Hatch Act is removal from the job and being prohibited from working for a state or local agency in the same state for 18 months.
   The issue of possible Hatch Act violations was raised by Mercer County Republicans during Mr. Holmes’ successful re-election campaign in 2005. Mr. Holmes, who is a Democrat, began working at the East Orange Housing Authority in 2003. He was elected to Township Council in 1997 and re-elected in 2001 and 2005.
   A formal investigation into Mr. Holmes’ circumstances, conducted by the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, was launched in December 2005 at the request of former Mercer County Republican Chairman John Hansbury.
   The U.S. Office of Special Counsel recommended sending the case to the Merit Systems Protection Board in February 2007, but Mr. Holmes reached an agreement that called for him to resign from the East Orange Housing Authority.